opened vaccination for its entire population

India today launched the coronavirus vaccination campaign for the entire population despite the lack of drugs and extended New Delhi’s isolation by a week to stop the explosion of infections, which has set a new world record.

In the past 24 hours, India has recorded 401,993 new infections and 3,523 deaths from the coronavirus, the health ministry said.

In April alone, some seven million cases of COVID-19 were detected, while since the start of the pandemic, the country has totaled 211,853 deaths from the disease, although many experts believe the real numbers are more high.

In this context, the Indian authorities are preparing to vaccinate their nearly 600 million adults from today despite the shortage of injectables.

Several states, such as Maharashtra and New Delhi – among the hardest hit – have already warned of drug shortages and that extending the campaign could lead to administrative disputes, price confusion and technical issues.

So far, the country of 1,300 million people has applied some 150 million vaccines, or 11.5% of the population, while some 25 million people have received their two doses.

At the same time, international aid pledged by more than 40 countries started arriving this week in India, where saturated hospitals need beds, oxygen and medicine.

In the western state of Gujarat, 16 coronavirus patients and two nurses have died in a fire at a hospital in the port city of Bharush that has erupted in recent hours.

Meanwhile, in Delhi state, authorities in New Delhi have announced that they will extend detention, which was due to end on Monday for another week, in order to ease pressure on health services.

Senior adviser to the President of the United States, Joe Biden, virologist Anthony Fauci, has recommended the immediate implementation of a nationwide lockdown of several weeks, although the Indian government is reluctant.

“No one likes to see a country confined, but if they only did so for a few weeks, they could have a significant impact on the dynamics of the epidemic,” Fauci said in an interview with Indian press, according to the AFP news agency. . (Telam)